Ashanti Although many young female starlets these days aspire to master the “big three” as singer, actress, and model, Ashanti has taken on seven claims to fame, and model isn’t one of them. Ashanti is known for being a singer, songwriter, record producer, actress, dancer, fashion designer, and poet. However, Ashanti, citing Mary J. Blige and Ella Fitzgerald among her musical influences, is undoubtedly most known for her success as a professional and successful singer and songwriter. Born on October 13, 1980, in Glen Cove, New York, as Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas, the singer first trained to be a dancer at the Bernice Johnson Cultural Arts Center and found work in some dancing gigs when she was a child, including Polly in 1989, a television musical adaptation of Pollyanna, starring Phylicia Rashad and Keshia Knight Pulliam.
After high school graduation, Ashanti was accepted into both Princeton University and Hampton University but instead decided to pursue music as her main career. She got her big start into the music biz as a background vocalist, for Big Pun and on “I’m Real,” a collaboration of Ja Rule and Jennifer Lopez; and also for being featured on the 2001 The Fast and the Furious soundtrack, on female rapper Vita’s hip-hop remake of Madonna’s “Justify My Love.” She was also featured on Ja Rule’s “Always on Time” and Fat Joe’s “What’s Luv?,” two songs that became instant and big hits in 2002, and landed the top and second spots in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. This made Ashanti the first female to accomplish such a feat.
Ashanti then went on to release her first single, the huge hit “Foolish,” and her debut album, Ashanti in 2002, which went certified quadruple platinum in the United States and earned her eight Billboard Music Awards, two American Music Awards, a Grammy, and a Lady of Soul Award, for Aretha Franklin Entertainer of the Year. During this time she continued to collaborate with Ja Rule, as well as with female rappers Vita and Charli Baltimore. Ashanti’s follow-up album, Chapter II, came just a year later, which also enjoyed great success, debuting at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 and going certified platinum, with singles such as “Rock Wit U (Awww Baby)” and “Rain on Me.” Her Christmas album, Ashanti’s Christmas, was released later that year in 2003. Ashanti appeared on VHI Divas in May 2003, performing some of her singles as well as duets with Stevie Wonder, and she returned in 2004, appearing with Jessica Simpson, Gladys Knight, and Pattie LaBelle. In December 2004, Ashanti released her third studio and fourth album total, Concrete Rose, which, while still popular and successful, did not elevate to the same status as her previous albums and singles. She also released the relatively unsuccessful Concrete Rose remix (Collectables by Ashanti) in December of 2005. Ashanti is also an aspiring actress, having performed “My Lips are Waiting” and “Touch My Body” in the 2004 Bollywood adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Bride and Prejudice. She also landed leading roles in the films Coach Carter in 2005, starring Samuel L. Jackson; as well as in John Tucker Must Die, in which she starred alongside Sophia Bush from One Tree Hill and Arielle Kebbel from Gilmore Girls, as well as Jesse Metcalfe and Brittany Snow. Besides music and acting, Ashanti is also a songwriter—having written songs for Jennifer Lopez and Toni Braxton—as well as a poet; she released a book of poetry in 2002, Foolish/Unfoolish Reflections on Love. In addition, she is a fashion designer, having released her own brand of jeans at Sears called Delicious Curves, as well as a European clothing line for teenaged girls called Princess. Ashanti has been involved with rapper Nelly since 2003 and the two are reportedly a very close and intimate couple. YUDDY |
